{"id":47570,"date":"2019-01-15T12:11:14","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T10:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=47570"},"modified":"2022-08-09T17:23:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T14:23:54","slug":"truth-v-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/truth-v-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Truth v. Power"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[615,503,354,463],"acf":{"old_id":"47570","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"134","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Argument in Judaism is a holy activity, the ongoing internal dialogue of the Jewish people","content":"<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAny dispute for the sake of heaven will have enduring value, but every dispute not for the sake of Heaven will not have enduring value. What is an example of a dispute for the sake of heaven? The dispute between Hillel and Shammai. What is an example of one not for the sake of heaven? The dispute of Korach and all his company\u201d (Mishnah Avot 5: 21).<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rabbis did not conclude from the Korach rebellion that argument is wrong, that leaders are entitled to unquestioning obedience, that the supreme value in Judaism should be \u2013 as it is in some faiths \u2013 submission. To the contrary: argument is the lifeblood of Judaism, so long as it is rightly motivated and essentially constructive in its aims.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Judaism is a unique phenomenon: a civilization all of whose canonical texts are anthologies of argument. In Tanakh, the heroes of faith \u2013 Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Job \u2013 argue with God. Midrash is founded on the premise that there are \u201cseventy faces\u201d \u2013 seventy legitimate interpretations \u2013 of Torah. The Mishnah is largely constructed on the model of \u201cRabbi X says this, Rabbi Y says that.\u201d The Talmud, far from resolving these arguments, usually deepens them considerably. Argument in Judaism is a holy activity, the ongoing internal dialogue of the Jewish people as it reflects on the terms of its destiny and the demands of its faith.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What then made the argument of Korach and his co-conspirators different from that of the schools of Hillel and Shammai? \u00a0Rabbenu Yona offered a simple explanation. An argument for the sake of Heaven is one that is about truth. An argument not for the sake of Heaven is about power. The difference is immense. If I argue for the sake of truth, then if I win, I win. But if I lose, I also win, because being defeated by the truth is the only defeat that is also a victory. I am enlarged. I learn something I did not know before.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a contest for power, if I lose, I lose. But if I win, I also lose, because in diminishing my opponents I have diminished myself. Moses could not have had a more decisive vindication than the miracle for which he asked and was granted: that the ground open up and swallow his opponents. Yet not only did this not end the argument, it diminished the respect in which Moses was held: \u201cThe next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. \u2018You have killed the Lord\u2019s people,\u2019 they said.\u201d (Num. 17:6). That Moses needed to resort to force was itself a sign that he had been dragged down to the level of the rebels. That is what happens when power, not truth, is at stake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From:\u00a0<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When truth is sacrificed to power (Covenant &amp; Conversation, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Korach <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5775)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>image:\u00a0Carl Schleicher Eine Streitfrage aus dem Talmud.jpg\/wikipedia (A Controversy Whatsoever on Talmud, c 1859).<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":47571,"id":47571,"title":"Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud","filename":"Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/truth-v-power\/num17-carl_schleicher_eine_streitfrage_aus_dem_talmud\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num17-carl_schleicher_eine_streitfrage_aus_dem_talmud","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":47570,"date":"2019-01-15 10:10:59","modified":"2021-07-21 04:10:27","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":4236,"height":3477,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-300x246.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":246,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-768x630.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":630,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-1024x841.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":841,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1261,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1681,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-1200x985.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":985,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-512x420.jpg","home_baner-width":512,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Truth v. 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